Illustration Guy Blog – The Chad Frye

Creative musings about creative stuff by a creative cartoonist.

Jim Henson’s Birthday

Today is Jim Henson’s birthday. He would have been 83. Never had a chance to meet him, but sure have been appreciative of his imagination. I actually tried getting work at the Jim Henson Company after graduating from university, but alas, never did get hired. At least it led to a visit at the Henson…
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Heffalumps and Roozles

Back in 2009, I did a little series of watercolor paintings of characters I had become familiar with having worked on three seasons of the My Friends Tigger & Pooh television show. Lumpy the heffalump, introduced in The Heffalump Movie, was a sweet character and was friends with Roo. The paintings weren’t done for anything…
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Batman & Robin

Happy Batman Day!!! When I was working on the Green Eggs and Ham show at Warner Bros., I was chatting with some colleagues who shared an office with each other. Lorenzo Martinez was joking that he and Sarah Arakaki were Batman and Robin, to which Sarah commented that she was Batman in that equation. I…
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From the Flat File: 1988 – Piggy Stayed Home

Thanks to my friend Judy Soemer Gracie who I have known since we were kids, earlier this summer I was reacquainted with this old drawing of mine that I did when I was in high school for our church’s member cookbook. I don’t even remember drawing it, and yet it is familiar all at the…
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The Cornelius Award

I belong to the National Cartoonists Society, and specifically am a part of the Los Angeles Chapter called NCS LA. Affectionately, our chapter is known as The Order of Cornelius. Cornelius is a bear who reportedly saved the life of California cartoonist George Herriman from hurtling over a cliff on a runaway toboggan. He later…
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The Order of Cornelius

Earlier this year, I created this piece for the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, otherwise known as The Order of Cornelius (OOC). It features the mascot of the OOC, Cornelius the Bear, who we hold in VERY high regard. I’ll have more to say about the OOC in my next…
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Nutty By Nature

Recently, I have been doing quite a few new drawings of Disney characters that used to be a part of my official professional past. Thought I’d share this one of Chip ‘n Dale with Donald Duck – all three of which I used to draw back in the mid 2000s when I was a part…
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Bat Sweat

While a lot of schools may have started already, that doesn’t mean summer is over. It’s still pretty hot out there, and that heat can really slow down a superhero. There’s a reason Batman only goes out at night. About that topic of schools starting in August – bleah! School started in my…
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